Curiosity and Innocence
by Krazy Ky-Sta Hatter
Summary: Alice thought the Wonderland Emotion Tea had all been destroyed. But it looks like she was wrong. What happens when she accidentally drinks a very potent one? How will Hatter cope when his fiancé drinks too much Innocence?
1. Curiosity

This piece was inspired by 'A Drop of Pure Innocence' by A Fallen Rose X. I noticed Hatter had barely been written into it. It's mostly Duchess and Jacks reaction. So I wanted more Hatter in there… see what he thinks when his fiancé drinks too much innocence!

Here is a link to Fallen Rose's original:

.net/s/6743848/1/A_Drop_of_Pure_Innocence

**Curiosity**

_Alice_

Despite everything that had happened here in wonderland, Alice still loved it to pieces. Not long after Hatter had come through after her they had begun to build there lives both there _and_ here.

Back on her side they lived together in an apartment that Jack used to own. Hatter was posing as Jacks little brother 'David Chase'. And they owned a Tea shop together. The teashop was a big business. Hatter sold packets of every tea imaginable and it was like a tea café. People would come in with their friends and get tea and cake.

Not only that, but they were a gateway between the worlds. The upstairs section of the building had been turned into a motel of sorts. The Looking Glass hung in a big room and people could go through freely so long as they had a passport. They would house the Wonderlanders and help them out.

But the both of them loved it here too much as well. They had redone Hatters tea shop so it was back to its original state. Hatter ran his tea business here too, and she ran self defence classes.

But what they earned the most off was pizza. After trying it Hatter had become obsessed and learned how to make them. They now sold them in the tea shop. Borogove Pizza was the most popular. Seriously, people here LOVED it!

They would spend three months on her side, then three in Wonderland. Occasionally they would bring her mother who they had ended up telling the truth a few months later. It was fare to say she was shocked but she handled it very well.

They would visit Charlie often and Jack too.

He had married Duchess with in the year and they lived in the castle that had been built over the casino ruins.

Duchess was expecting their first child… she had to admit, her sexy clothing style didn't quite work so well when she had a small baby bump!

Hatter really wanted a kid. He hadn't said anything, but she could tell. His beautiful chocolate eyes would light up every time a kid was mentioned.

She smiled as she looked down at the simple but beautiful ring on her finger. If anyone had told her two years ago that she would so easily say 'yes' she would have laughed. She could still remember when Jack had given her the ring. She'd pushed him out faster than she would run from a Jabberwocky! But when Hatter proposed she hadn't even let him finish speaking before she said yes.

Today she was at the castle for a visit. Hatter had been busy and was meeting her here later. Jack and Duchess were also busy with their duties so she began to explore.

She'd never really been around much of the castle before. And she found herself going deeper and deeper. Not only had they built this castle horrifically like a huge skyscraper, but it burrowed deep into the earth as well. In total it had well over 2,000 stories!

Two of them were occupied by half the contents from the Great Library. She'd spent some time in there reading about Wonderlands history.

She wondered deeper and deeper till she came to what must be one of the lowest levels, about 100 levels below ground.

She went to turn into a room and ran into a crazy looking man who looked at her in panic and clutching the bag tighter to him, ran off, the bag jingling as whatever was in his bag knocked together. Looking at the door she noticed that it had been broken off its hinges. She looked back at the man who had run off, but he was far too far away.

"Hey!" she yelled at him but he just ran faster and disappeared round the corner. Cautiously she walked into the room and gasped.

In front of her, row after row, were bottles of Emotion Tea. She thought hey had been destroyed two years ago!

She put her glass of water down on a table and walked through the room. Curiosity was driving her like she'd drunken a whole bottle of the stuff. There were even more vials than she knew existed. It had to be everything from Hatters old shop, the Casino and what they could get from the raids.

Why hadn't it been destroyed!

She went to pick up her drink again but stopped when she noticed there were two. She'd accidentally put her drink down right next to someone else's. she looked at the two of them, they were more or less exactly the same. Though one looked a little murkier than the other. One was crystal clear, it hat to be the fresher one. She picked it up and took a big gulp. And she began to gag and dropped the glass. It shattered on the ground.

That had not been water. It was sweet… far too sweet. It was like she'd been drinking highly concentrated syrup!

She coughed for a moment then froze. She felt oddly light, like she had no trouble in the world. She was happy and free s she had been when she was a little girl…

Perhaps this tea really wasn't so bad.


	2. Innocence

**Innocence**

_Duchess_

This was just what she needed! She'd only just finished puking her guts out when a Suit came and told her there had been _another_ break in, in the tea room. She didn't understand why Jack didn't just destroy them. But he was too fixated on his stupid idea that the remaining tea could be used for medical purposes. Like happiness for depression patents

It was a nice idea. But what would happen when they ran out? Then of course there were the addicts who would do anything to get their hands on some tea. It was only asking for trouble.

She gasped as she turned the corner and saw that the door had been ripped off its hinges. The man who got in must have been really desperate. It was too bad he escaped!

She walked in and saw that at least one shelf of each elixir had been taken.

She cursed, this was not good, way too much was gone.

There was a crunch under her feet and she looked down to see a broken glass on the ground. Bending down she could see the faint writing on the edge of the glass 'Innocence'.

It was a good thing _this_ one had been destroyed, intentionally or not. It had still been in the trial stage when they stopped production. It was fat too concentrated. The original elixir needed to be diluted half a dozen times before it was ready to sell. The old Queen had been the only one to try this.

Who knew what would happen if someone drunk even a sip of this straight. A drop would probably put them on a buzz for a month if they were lucky. She didn't even want to think what would happen if someone had more.

At that moment she heard a noise in front of her and she looked up to see a small girl hiding under the table. She looked about three or four and was wearing a dress _far_ too big for her. She peered at Duchess curiously through her long dark hair.

"Hey Sweetie," she said kindly. "What are you doing under there?"

"I'm scared," the little girl whispered. "Where am I? I don't like it here." She sounded absolutely adorable and Duchess couldn't help but smile.

"It's okay Sweetie, you're in the castle. Do you want to come with me up stares?"

"I'm in a castle?" the girl said excitedly scrabbling out. "Can I be the princess?"

Duchess laughed. "Well you can be today. How old are you?" The little girl shrugged, her tiny shoulders rising and pulling the cutest face. Oh, she _hoped_ the baby was going to be a girl. "Well then what's your name?"

"Alice," she said as Duchess picked her up.

"Really?" she said carrying her into the elevator. "I have a friend called Alice, she's famous. Would you like to meet her?" Little Alice nodded eagerly.

"Is she as famous as 'Alice in Wonderland'? I really like her. My daddy reads me the story all the time."

"Who's your Daddy? Maybe I can help you find him," she told her.

"R R R R… Rob- Robert!" the little girl said remembering the name. she smiled remembering what it was like when she didn't know her parents first names either. "Robert Hamilton," the girl finished.

Duchess froze and looked at the girl. Robert Hamilton had been Carpenters other name… Carpenter had been Alice Hamilton… the Alice of Legend's father. This was her Alice!


	3. Their 'Little' Problem

**Their 'Little' Problem**

"Oh, crap!" she murmured. She remembered the broken glass of innocence… Alice must have drunken it. So this is what would happen if you drunk too much. Poor Alice.

"Well, I don't know if we can find you Daddy yet… but how would you like to meet the King?" Alice smiled and bobber her adorable three years old head.

Quickly she hurried up to her room where she found Jack sitting on the bed rubbing his temples.

"Headache?" she asked. He nodded in reply.

"I can see why my mother chose the easy way out. There are so many problems at the moment!"

"Well, we have one more little problem," she said putting Alice on the ground. "That's him," she whispered. Alice skipped up to Jack ad grinned.

"It's nice to meet you your majesty," she said doing an adorable little curtsey. Gosh Alice had been so _cute!_

Jack looked surprised for a moment and smiled warmly.

"Well, hello there," he said bending down to her level. "And what is your name?"

"Alice," she replied.

"Alice is going to be the princess for the day. Tell him your last name Sweetie," Duchess said to Jack then Alice.

"Hamilton, my name is Alice Hamilton," she said strongly. It was so adorable!

The smile dropped from his face.

"Duchess," he said forcing himself to be calm. "Why is Alice three years old?"

"I think she drunk some of the experimental 'Innocence' you left un-bottled in your stupid tea room," she said harshly. If he had destroyed the teas like she had told him to then Alice wouldn't be hugging his legs right now thinking she was a princess. She wouldn't _literally_ be a child!

"You think this is _my_ fault!" Jack was beginning to yell.

"If you had just listened to me-"

"I am keeping them for a good reason! Alice should have known better that to drink the Tea!"

Alice's lip trembled and she burst into tears. Duchess gave Jack a reproachful look.

"Oh, I'm sorry! It's okay Alice, come here baby."

The little girl ran into her arms and held on tight, tears making her small body shake. Gently she rocked her, comforting her till she calmed down.

"I'm sorry Jack," she finally said. "I'm just worried. I'm trying to think of how we're going to change her back."

"I'm worried too," Jack told her. "_I'm_ trying to think of how we're going to tell Hatter!"


	4. So Not Good

**So Not Good**

_Hatter_

Hatter was beginning to get worried. He'd searched all of the lower levels. Alice never tried to go up too high if she could help it. You would think that after living here for a total of one year she'd be used to the height. Usually she spent her time here in the library, but no one had seen her. No one had seen her for hours.

But it was no reason to panic. She had probably gone to say hi to Duchess, they were probably gossiping away in her room already. He took the elevator up to the royal suite, but he still couldn't help feeling uneasy. Something was not right.

He knocked and popped his head in. the room for some reason was littered with toys. Duchess and Jack sat on the bed looking very serious. The looked up when he came in and their faces drained of colour.

"Is Alice here?" he asked.

"She's in the bathroom," Jack said quickly. "Why don't you come in and sit down… she shouldn't be long." There was something odd about the way he said that and the uneasy feeling got worse.

"What's with all the toys?" he said. "I didn't think the baby was due for another six months."

"Um..." Duchess said.

Suddenly something sprung from a pile of teddies and charged at him.

"Hatty!" the little girl cried attaching herself to his legs. She was about three years old and was dressed in a brand new blue dress. She looked up at him through her long dark hair with familiar blue eyes, a huge grin across her face.

"Well, hello," he smiled. He picked her up and sat the girl on his hip. "Hey, wanna wear my hat?" She nodded excitedly and he took of his hat, flipping it into the air. It landed on her head with a plop; it was far too big for her and fell over her eyes. "Woops, there you are," he said tipping it back. She laughed and he smiled even more.

He would never tell Alice, but he _so_ wanted a kid! From what he'd heard, he was lucky enough that she didn't run for the hill she he proposed. He wasn't going to push it. If Alice was going to have a kid it would be in her own time. Perhaps they should get past the wedding first.

"You're amazing with kids," Duchess commented.

He laughed. "Don't tell Alice." The two of them twitched uncomfortably… what was going on?

"So where are her parents?" he asked, deciding to give it a few more minutes before he went of at them.

"Well, her mother is on the other side of the Looking Glass," Duchess said. "And her father is D – E – A –D," she spelled out 'dead' in a whisper. The little girl cocked her head to the side trying to figure out what it spelt, but she was probably too young to guess. The fact that it was obvious she wasn't meant to know that she'd said made her want to know it more. Her little brow crumpled adorably in concentration, but after a moment she gave up.

"I'm the princess today!" she said excitedly, lifting the hat up a bit so he could see the crown underneath.

"Are you now!" he said looking at her. He turned and looked right into her eyes, those familiar blue eyes at he knew so well. His face dropped and his whole body tensed. "Alice?" he asked hesitantly. She smiled at him.

"Yes Hatty?" he probably would have dropped her then if his body hadn't frozen into place. Slowly he turned and faced the King and Queen. They were looking at him in alarm. "Would someone care to explain why my fiancé is _three years old?_" he said slowly and quietly.

"I… I found her in the Tea Vault," Duchess stuttered. "She somehow drunk… quite a bit of the experimental 'Innocence'."

"How much?" he demeaned.

"We don't know, the glass was shattered."

"Well how long will it last?" he was trying to keep his voice calm so he didn't frighten Alice, but it was very hard. Duchess just shrugged apologetically. "Come on! We're meant to be getting married in a week!" he cried.

"Hatty?" the small voice distracted him.

"Yeah, Alice?"

"I Love you, Hatty!" she leaned over an planted a kiss on his cheek. He felt a tear well up in his eye.

"I love you too Sweetheart."

He had no idea how he was supposed to change her back. This was not good, this was _so not good!_


	5. More People

**More People**

"So Jack and his mother with their golden goose, were never hungry ever again. And Jack lived happily ever after… the end," Hatter whispered.

By now Alice was already asleep. She had dozed off somewhere when Jack cut down the beanstalk. She looked so adorable! He'd always liked watching Alice sleep; she looked so cute and peaceful. But little Alice made his face crumple into that 'aw, so adorable' gushing look. Duchess had been doing it all day when ever Alice said or did something cute… which was a lot.

Gently he kissed her head and walked back to the others who were waiting for him in the front half of their large room.

"Well _that's_ something I never thought I'd do," he said. "Seriously Jack, I bet you never had to read your girlfriend a bedt-" he stared at Duchess who had plonked herself on the ground and was playing with one of the teddies. "Never mind!" he said quickly.

"You know what I don't get," Duchess said from the floor. "Why did Alice _only_ recognise you? She still has no idea who Jack and I are, but she ran right to you screaming your name."

That was a very good question indeed. She did seem to know him somehow. He didn't know if she remembered _everything_ about him, it didn't seem that way. But she knew him.

This was so damn _frustrating!_

"That still doesn't answer how we're gonna change her back, it's just bringing up some more damn questions!"

"We could always send her to Caterpillar, at the hospital of dream. He'd help her out."

"No!" Hatter yelled thumping his right hand down on the desk and the corner of it broke off. "Uh… sorry 'bout that."

"It's alright Hatter," Jack said. "Just calm down so you don't break anything else."

"Look, I don't care if the guy is a genius. '_Yay he ate a shrinking mushroom to escape the Suits and he changes everyone back to normal!_' I don't care okay. You know what he'll do to her. He'll lock her in a room and make her act like a grown up. And every day he'll walk past and look in that window like she's some sort of zoo animal!"

"Hatty?" the small voice said behind him. He turned to see Alice standing there rubbing her eyes. He must have woken her what with the yelling and the table.

"I'm sorry Sweetheart. Did I wake you?" She didn't reply; she just stood there tugging on the strap of her dress.

"My dress hurts," he walked over to her and looked at the dress. Where the straps were, her skin was bright red. It had to be too tight for her.

"Can we get Alice a new dress?" he said.

"I like blue!" she cried.

"Yes I know you do," he grinned. Duchess smiled and sent a Suit to go grab the tailor.

"So sorry I'm late!" a woman said from the door. Hatter cursed inside. "You know how it is with that silly Looking Glass."

Hatter turned to face Carol. He was trying to think of a gentle way to say 'hey! Your daughter's three again!' when Alice ran out from behind him.

"Mommy!" she cried giving her a hug. Carol held on and stared down at her daughter in shock.

"How…" she tried to say, but she just couldn't get anything out.

"Ball!" Alice cried seeing a gold ball sitting in the corner. Little Alice was almost as easily distracted as he was! "It's a froggy ball! Hatty come play," she grabbed him by the hand and started dragging him away. It would never stop amazing him how strong little kids could be.

"Ah… you guy's fill her in. Princess Alice summons me!" Duchess couldn't help a little laugh at escaped her lips.

"I'm the princess and you're the frog!" Alice told him. Then she chucked the ball away and pretended to cry.

"What's wrong little Princess?" he asked.

"You're meants to hop!" she commanded. He bobbed down into a frog pose and pulled a funny face which had her giggling on the ground.

For a three year old she was very stubborn and acted very well. There was no mistaking this little girl for anyone else. She was pretty much a short epically adorable version of the woman he fell in love with.

"And _pop!_" he sprung up as she gave him a peck on the lips. "I'm a prince again!"

"Don't kid yourself Harbinger!" Charlie said walking into the room.

"Cha-lee!" Alice yelled and tackled him. The poor old man fell to the ground with Alice pinning him down.

"Alice," he said. "You've shrunk!"

"No! I'm big! I'm getting bigger," she said defiantly.

"But you're only five!" the old man said slightly confused.

"Five!" Hatter suddenly cried. It made sense! Why her dress was too small, why she was acting very well. "She's getting older!"


	6. Memory

**Memory**

"No!" Alice said. "I'm not five, I'm…" she paused trying to figure out how old she was. "Mommy how old am I?" Carol who was still in shock didn't say anything. She walked closer to her daughter then paused.

"Her… her scars back," she stuttered. "Just before she didn't have that scar above her eyebrow. She got it when she was five…" Her lip trembled and she sagged slightly. It had to be really had for her to understand this. It was hard enough on him!

"Duchess, can you go take Carol for some tea?" Hatter asked. "Camomile and lavender should do the trick."

"What are we trying to put her to sleep?"

"No but it will help her relax, now please just go!" Duchess stood and led Carol out of the room. He turned back to Jack.

"So what are we going to do since you refuse to let her get professional help?" Jack asked him.

"Well I don't know. But she just aged two years and we didn't even notice… do you think it's wearing off?" Jack shrugged.

"There is a chance that something else trigged it. I've seen what they do at the hospital. Different things help with different effects. One man turned into a lion because he drunk too much 'Courage'. Every time he got scared he'd slowly change back. And there was a woman who got a big shock when she had taken 'Serenity'. She froze still, it was heat that brought her back."

"So nearly anything could trigger it," he summed up.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no!" Charlie muttered from behind them.

"What's wrong Charlie?" he asked.

"I… I - I – I… I didn't mean to! She was here and then I went to grab her teddy and she…" They looked around the room which was devoid of a certain little girl.

"Alice?" he called. He rushed to the bed and looked under… no Alice.

Jack began to look too and ruffled through all the piles of teddies.

"She can't of gone far!" he said desperately. "Let's split up and look out here." The three of them dashed out of the room and ran off down separate hall ways. He yelled her name as he searched. He was about to give up on this hall and try another when he looked out the window.

There pressed up against the glass for dear life, was the tiny form of Alice. He went out the nearest door and stepped onto the path that ran around the level. Little Alice stood not far away, her gaze glued to the ground far below. Fear was painted across her face. Her hands were grappling against the glass like she was trying to find a grip.

He realised that this Little Alice hadn't even _slightly_ gotten over her fear of heights.

"Alice?" he said. She didn't even look away from the edge. She was shaking and her breathing was heavy, she seemed on the brink of tears. "Alice Sweetheart, look at me." she looked at him and he held out his hand to her. After a moment she took it. "That's a good girl, now don't look down, okay?" She just blinked up at him and allowed him to lead her to the door.

He gasped in shock when they reached the safety of inside. Because right before his eyes Alice seemed to age a year.

The second they got through the door Alice wrapped her arms around his waist.

"It's okay," he said putting his arms around her. "It's okay Sweetie. Come on, you got everyone really worried you mischief!" he took her by the hand and lead her back down the halls to Jack and Duchess's room again.

Suddenly Alice stopped walking. He turned to see her staring up at a picture on the wall. It was of her father. He had only seen the guy once, but he knew she had loved him.

She stared at it blankly for a moment. "Daddy…" she murmured, then she burst into tears.

"Alice! Alice, what's wrong?" he said drawing her into a hug.

"D-Daddy's dead!" she cried into his shoulder. Sighing he picked her up and carried her the rest of the way, stroking her hair.

She must be old enough now to have figured out what Duchess had spelled out earlier. He tucked her into the bed and held her as she cried.

"I'm thirsty," she whispered to him after a while. Smiling sadly he got up and poured a glass of water.

Alice had grown again… but what had caused it? She had been on the ledge and he had said… he had said more or less exactly what he'd said to her two years ago. Perhaps it was memory that mage her age.


	7. Confusion

**Confusion**

_Alice_

Alice's body began to ache and she could fell herself get heavier again. She was so dazed; she knew she was coming down off the high. She had no idea how much time had passed… but could only have been minutes…

Her head gave a painful throb… she did_ not_ like this feeling. Now she knew why people became addicted to those Emotion Teas, it was _horrible_ coming off them.

"Ugh, my head!" she murmured. There was a gasp and the sound of glass shattering.

"Alice!" she heard Hatter cry. She looked up to see him standing excitedly before her. She was shocked to see where she was. She was in Duchess's room, tucked into the bed. And she was wearing… _what __**was**__ she wearing?_ Some sort of small ripped dress was wrapped around her chest. The only intact part of it was the skirt which sat tightly under her arms and thankfully covered her breasts… the rest of her was completely naked.

"Hatter, where are my clothes?" she said still looking down at the dress. Hatter let out a relived giddy laugh and grabbed her dress from off a counter. She struggled out of the tiny dress, Hatter had to help rip it open. Then she changed back into her normal dress.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Believe me," he replied giving her a kiss on the head. "You do _not_ want to know. But I will say this… you were an _adorable_ three year old." He grinned knowingly at her and she cocked her head to the side. For some reason this made him laugh even more.

At that point everyone else walked in. Duchess, Jack, her mother and Charlie. There were relieved cries all round and she wondered exactly what had happened.

"Alice you're back!" her mother said running over and hugging her.

"What changed her back?" Jack asked.

"Memory… I think," Hatter replied. "Which is funny because it appears she has no memory of what happened!"

But even as he said it she heard a faint memory echo through her head.

"_You're amazing with kids," Duchess said._

_Hatter laughed and hoisted her higher on his hip. "Don't tell Alice."_


	8. Surprise

**Surprise**

_Hatter_

Hatter smiled down at everyone from the head table. But only for a brief moment before he tuned back to look at the only girl he had eyes for. She looked so beautiful in her white gown. It was a bit of an odd wedding.

Half normal, half Wonderland. Alice's dress was beautiful like a normal dress, but had Wonderland touches here and there. Duchess was wearing a very Wonderland kind of bridesmaid dress, and Jack was wearing a very normal looking suit.

He had done all he could to make sure he didn't have to wear one of those horrid monkey suits! Instead he wore his usual style in black and silver, but it looked smarter and neater. Carol had made adjustments till it was to her liking. He had to admit, it wasn't too bad.

After their dance he took her out into the courtyard. Duchess's family castle had very pretty gardens. It had been amazingly nice of her to let them have the wedding there.

This was the first moment they had had alone all day. Quite frankly he was tired. But just the sight of his beautiful new wife kept him going.

He drew her into him and kissed her.

"You know, I don't think I could be any happier," he told her. Alice smiled then looked down shyly.

"Then this might be a good time to tell that I'm pregnant," she said.

"What!" he said, not quite sure he had heard her right. "Really, you serous?" she nodded and he felt a huge grin slowly creep onto his face.

Okay… _Now_ he couldn't be any happier!


End file.
